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Abgadiyat
Issue No. 7 - 2012
Issue No 7- 2012
Scientific refereed annual journal issued by the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Calligraphy Center

Board Chair
Ismail Serageldin

Editing Supervisor
Khaled Azab

Editor-in-Chief
Ahmed Mansour

Editors
Azza Ezzat
Amr Ghoniem

Graphic
Mohamed Yousri

Views presented in Abgadiyat do not necessarily reflect those of the Calligraphy Center
Advisory Board
Abdulaziz Al-A’raj Mahmoud Ibrahim Hussaein
University of Algeria, Algeria Cairo University, Egypt

Abdul Rahman Al-Tayeb Al-Ansary Mamdouh el-Damaty

King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Cairo University, Egypt

Abdulhalim Nureldin Mohamed Abdulghany

Cairo University, Egypt Alexandria University, Egypt

Adnan Al-Harthy Mohamed Al-Kahlawy

Um Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia Union of Arab Archaeologists, Egypt

Ahmed Amin Selim Mohamed Abdalsattar Othman

Alexandria University, Egypt South Valley University, Egypt

Alessandro Roccati Mohamed Hamza

Turin University, Italy Cairo University, Egypt

Anne Marie-Christin Mohamed Ibrahim Aly

University of Paris 7, France Ain Shams University, Egypt

Bernard O’kane Mostafa Al-Abady

The American University in Cairo, Egypt Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Fayza Heikal Raafat Al-Nabarawy

The American University in Cairo, Egypt Cairo University, Egypt

Frank Kammerzell Rainer Hannig

University of Berlin, Germany University of Marburg, Germany

Friedrich Juge Riyad Morabet

University of Göttingen, Germany Tunis University, Tunisia

Gunter Dreyer Sa’d ibn Abdulaziz Al-Rashed

Univeristy of New York, USA King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Heike Sternberg Zahi Hawass

University of Göttingen, Germany SCA, Egypt

Khaled Daoud
University of Al-Fayyum, Egypt

Issue No.6 5
Contents
Guidelines for Contributors

Introduction Ahmed Mansour

A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife, formerly known as the Book of the Dead
Essam Elsaeed and Paula Veiga

CT Spell 1099 (CT VII, 386a-391a) as Evidence for the Solar-Osirian Parallelism in Coffin Texts
Eltayeb Abbas

The God Nehebkau in Heliopolis
Nageh Omar Ali
A Brief Reflection on the Two Terms DAdw and wAxy
Sherine el Menshawy
Four Demotic Ostraca of Accounts
Soheir M. Wahid El-Din
Tarh for the first Sunday of the Lent
Youhanna Nessim Youssef

6 Abgadiyat 2011
Guidelines for Contributors
Initial Submission for Refereeing
The manuscript must be submitted in three copies
for refereeing purposes. The Journal of Abgadiyat
follows the Chicago Manual of Style, with some
modifications as cited below.
Final Submission
1- The final text (following amendments
recommended by the editor or referees) must
be provided on disk preferably CD, using MS
Word, composed in 14 point font for Arabic
and 12 point font for other languages.
2- The text should be in hard copy, printed
clearly on A4 or standard American paper, on
one side only, double-spaced throughout and
with ample margins. Please do not justify the
right-hand margin.
3- Please do not employ multiple typeface styles
or sizes.
4 The Journal of Abgadiyat does not use titles such
as Dr, or Prof. in text or notes or for authors.
5- Brackets should be all round-shaped, e.g. (……)
6- Use single quotation marks throughout. ‘ ’ 5- The (tā’ marbuta) is written as a, but if followed
7- Avoid Arabic diacriticals. Only use in quotes.
8- The numbers of dynasties must be spelled
out, e.g. ‘Eighteenth Dynasty’ and not ‘18th
Dynasty’ or ‘Dynasty 18’. Similarly, numbers
of centuries should be spelled out, e.g. ‘fifth
century BCE’, ‘second century CE’. BCE and
CE should be in capitals.
9- The ‘­_’ dash between dates, page references,
etc. (1901/02, 133–210) is an en-dash not a
hyphen.
Issue No.6
FONTS
Contributors must check with the editor, in
advance, if the text employs any non-standard
fonts (e.g. transliterations, Hieroglyphics, Greek,
Coptic, etc.) and may be asked to supply these on
a disk with the text.
TRANSCRIPTIONS OF ARABIC
WORDS
1- The initial hamza (‫ )ء‬is not transcribed: amāna,
ka-sura.
2- The article (al) should be connected with the
word it determines through a hyphen, avoiding
what is known in Arabic as ‘solar’ al, i.e. it
should be written whether pronounced or not:
al-šams, al-qamar.
3- No capital letter is given to the article (al) but
the word it determines, except at the beginning
of a sentence where the article also must have a
capital letter: al-Gabarti.
4- Arabic diacritics are not transcribed: laylat al
qadr, and not laylatu l-qadri.
by genitive it should be written as al-madina,
madinat al-Qahira.
6- For transliteration of plural in Arabic words use
any of the following options:
- Arabic singular: waqf,
- Arabic plural: awqaf,
- Arabic singular followed by (s) in Roman letters:
waqf-s.
7
Guidelines For Contributors
FOOTNOTES
1- Citations must be on separate pages appended
as endnotes, double-spaced.
2- Footnote numbers should be placed above
the line (superscript) following punctuation,
without brackets.
3- The title of the article must not include a
footnote reference. If a note is needed for
‘acknowledgement’ this should be by means of
an asterisk (*) in the title and an asterisked note
before the first footnote.
ABSTRACT
An abstract (maximum 150 words) must be
provided. The abstract will be used for indexing
and information retrieval. The abstract is a stand
alone piece and not part of the main body of the
article.
ABBREVIATIONS
• Concerning periodicals and series, abbreviations
should follow those in Bernard Mathieu,
Abréviations des périodiques et collections
en usage à l’IFAO, 4ème éd. (Cairo, 2003).
Available online at www.ifao.egnet.net. Ad hoc
abbreviations, after complete full reference, may
be used for titles cited frequently in individual
articles.
• Accepted forms of standard reference works
may also be applied. Porter and Moss,
Topographical Bibliography, should be cited as
PM (not italicized).
CITATIONS should take the form of:
Article in a journal
J.D. Ray, ‘The Voice of Authority: Papyrus Leiden
I 382’, JEA 85 (1999), 190.
• Cite subsequently as: Ray, JEA 85, 190.
Article or chapter in a multi-author book
I. Mathieson, ‘Magnetometer Surveys on Kiln Sites
at Amarna’, in B.J. Kemp (ed.), Amarna Reports
8 Abgadiyat 2011
VI, EES Occasional Publications 10 (London,
1995), 218-220.
• Cite subsequently as: Mathieson, in Kemp
(ed.), Amarna Reports VI, 218-220.
A.B. Lloyd, ‘The Late Period, 664-323 BC’ in B.G.
Trigger, B.J. Kemp, D. O’Connor and A.B. Lloyd,
Ancient Egypt. A Social History (Cambridge,
1983), 279-346.
• Cite subsequently as: Lloyd, in Trigger, et al.,
Ancient Egypt. A Social History, 279-346.
Monographs
E. Strouhal, Life in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge,
1992), 35-38.
• Cite subsequently as: Strouhal, Life in Ancient
Egypt, 35-38.
D.M. Bailey, Excavations at el-Ashmunein, V.
Pottery, Lamps and Glass of the Late Roman and
Early Arab periods (London, 1998), 140.
• Cite subsequently as: Bailey, Excavations at
el-Ashmunein, V. 140.
Series publication
W.M.F. Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities,
BSAE 12 (London, 1906), 37, pl.38.A, no.26.
• Cite subsequently as: Petrie, Hyksos and
Israelite Cities, 37, pl. 38.A, no. 26.
Dissertations
Josef W. Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of
Senwosret III: A Study of Middle Kingdom State
Activity and the Cult of Osiris at Abydos (PhD
diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1996), 45-55.
• Cite subsequently as: Wegner, The Mortuary
Complex of Senwosret III, 45-55.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA
• Cite preferentially to a hard-copy edition of
material posted on a website. If material is
available solely in electronic form, provide
sufficient information to enable users to
correctly access the sources. However, a citation

such as www.mfa.org/artemis/fullrecord.
asp?oid=36525&did=200. might be more
elegantly, if less directly, expressed textually:
See, for example, acc. 19.162, illustrated at
www.mfa.org/artemis. The http:// protocol may
be omitted in citations to sources posted on the
World Wide Web (e.g., www.mfa.org/giza,
rather than http://www.mfa.org/giza); it should
be retained in other instances (e.g., http://
aaupnet.org; or http://w3.arizona.edu/~egypt/)
• For citations to electronic journals, CD-ROM,
and similar media, see the relevant chapter in
the Chicago Manual of Style.
• Authors’ initials and publication details,
including full article title and/or series name
and volume number should be provided in the
first citation; surname alone, and an abbreviated
title should be used subsequently. The use of
ibid, op. cit. and loc. cit. should be avoided.
Precise page references should be given.
PHOTOGRAPHS
• These should be scanned at 300 dpi for
reproduction at the same size. The images
should be saved as CMYK TIFF files (JPEGs
are rarely adequate).
• Illustrations and graphics should not exceed
30% of the text.
• All image files must be submitted on a CD.
Please do not e-mail images to the editors
without prior consultation.
Issue No.6
Guidelines For Contributors
CAPTIONS
• For figures, appropriate credit should be
provided, double-spaced, on a separate sheet,
and in electronic form on the CD with the final
version of the article.
COPYRIGHT
• Responsibility for obtaining permission to use
copyright material rests with the author. This
includes photocopies of previously-published
material.
• Submitted research papers and articles will not
be returned to authors whether published or
not.
• A brief Curriculum Vitae (CV) should be
submitted together with the research paper.
Please visit the Abgadiyat journal web page:
http://www.bibalex.com/calligraphycenter/
abgadiyat/static/home.aspx
9
Introduction

With the issuing of this edition, the Abgadiyat journal is witnessing a major transformation in its scientific
journey, since the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has signed an agreement with the Brill Publishing House in the
Netherlands for the printing and worldwide distribution of the Abgadiyat journal. The Brill Publishing House is
without doubt one of the most important international publishing houses that publish and print solid scientific
publications, with branches extending in China, Europe, North Africa, and South America.
The Abgadiyat journal; the only journal worldwide specializing in the field of inscriptions and writings,
continues to publish the latest archeological findings in the field of inscriptions, and introduce state-of-the-art
techniques in inscription preservation and documentation.
The accuracy in selecting the scientific researches to be published, subjecting them to accurate scientific
refereeing through a group of academic scholars, and verifying all their linguistic and structural aspects have
participated in making this publication one of the most important scientific publications of the BA Calligraphy
Center.
The 7th edition of the Abgadiyat journal includes fifteen research papers; nine in Arabic and six in English.
The scientific content varied as to location and historical era. Some research papers discussed inscriptions and
scripts on religious structures and their significance throughout the different eras, other papers discussed textual
evidences for a group of Ancient Egyptian archeological pieces, and more subjects where much effort has been
exerted on scientific research; the subjects being unique and published for the first time through the Abgadiyat
journal which is set on becoming a platform for researchers of all specializations and degrees.
Finally, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the Abgadiyat team members for
all their painstaking efforts to achieve the mission of the Calligraphy Center and produce this edition of the
journal in a way befitting the Calligraphy Center especially, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in general.

Ahmed Mansour
Deputy Director of the Calligraphy Center
Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Issue No.6 11
‫‪A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife, formerly known‬‬
‫‪as the Book of the Dead‬‬
‫دليل �إر�شادات لأف�ضل �آخرة والتي كانت تعرف �ساب ًقا بكتاب املوتى‬

‫‪Essam Elsaeed* - Paula Veiga‬‬

‫ملخ�ص‪:‬‬
‫مبهما‪ ،‬ولكنه‬
‫غام�ضا �أو ً‬
‫ً‬ ‫ا�سما‬
‫تعد املقالة حماولة من قبلنا بو�ضع نظرية لتعاويذ ما ي�سمى بف�صول كتاب املوتى الذي يعد ً‬
‫دارجا لدى علماء امل�رصيات بالرغم من �أن بع�ض تعاويذه ال�سحرية �أو الطبية ُو ِ�صفت للأحياء من الب�رش‪ .‬ويف احلقيقة �إن‬ ‫�أ�صبح ً‬
‫ا�سم ‘كتاب املوتى’ قد ذكر من ِق َبل ل�صو�ص املقابر الذين كانوا ال يعلمون �شي ًئا عن فحوى الن�صو�ص التي ُو ِجدت داخل جثمان‬
‫كثريا من الباحثني يف علم امل�رصيات ‪ -‬ونحن معهم ‪ -‬يحاولون فك اللغز فيما كانت هذه التعاويذ موجهة‬ ‫املتوفَّى‪ .‬ومن ثم ف�إن ً‬
‫خلدمة الب�رش �أمواتًا كانوا �أم �أحيا ًء‪.‬‬
‫كما �أننا نبحث يف فهم املعاين العميقة وب�شكل مف�صل يف هذا البحث ما �إذا كانت هذه التعاويذ جنائزية �أم ال‪ ،‬ولهذا ف�إن‬
‫درا�سة التعاويذ وحماولة �إيجاد تف�سريات خمتلفة لها هو ما يزيد من قيمتها يف فهم �أ�شياء كثرية‪.‬‬
‫�إن هذه التعاويذ مل تُكتب على �أوراق الربدي فقط‪ ،‬ولكن على التوابيت احلجرية واملن�سوجات ولفائف املن�سوجات‬
‫ومتاثيل الأو�شابتي‪ ،‬بالإ�ضافة �إىل املناظر امل�صورة على جدران املقابر واملعابد‪.‬‬
‫�إن كتاب املوتى مبا فيه من تعاويذ �صيغت لتكون �إر�شادات جنائزية كان عبارة عن دليل لإر�شادات ُجمعت لأغرا�ض خمتلفة‬
‫حد �سواء للحياة الدنيا والأخرى‪ ،‬وقد دفنت مع املتوفَّى من �أجل العامل الآخر‪.‬‬
‫ا�س ُتخدم بع�ضها على ٍّ‬

‫‪Issue No.7‬‬ ‫‪13‬‬

Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
‘You have not departed dead, you have departed alive’1
Introduction
Researching Osiris and his association with some
elements of the vegetal kingdom is very prolific in
ideas concerning what ancient Egyptians used in life
and what they used when preparing for the afterlife
such as the Field of Reeds2 or ancient Egyptian heaven,
as they called it. Listening to specialists about the Book
of The Dead3 spells, prayers or incantations is always
enlightening, and, in particular getting to know more
about spells that were later included,4 now the object of
detailed research, in order to filter their most profound
meanings and also as to be classified as funerary or not.
Many considerations and theories are being
developed, as some of the so-called chapters or
spells in the canonical Book of the Dead5 (such an
ambiguous name),6 may in fact describe no other
than magical, medical7 and ritual practices, designed
for living humans, and not preferably intentionally
created for deceased ones.
In ancient Egypt, the title or name given to these
texts (Book of the Dead)8 was indeed different. Calling
those texts by their practical function, applied to the
deceased’s path, a personal journey’s road map9 was, in
those times defined ( ) prt m hrw,
or ‘How to come out/Coming forth by Daylight’.10
Allen believed that ancient Egyptians longed for
a daily return, but also warns us of the misleading11
possibility of a missed translation, which would give
us a wrong understanding of their actual thoughts.12
Because the BD shares features with other ancient
Egyptian texts, designed in the heavens by the divine,
and offered to mankind on earth, and because these
had been passed on through oral tradition, and many
may have been lost, researchers are more recently
tending to solve the riddle on whereas these spells
were, in their original writing after all intended to
serve dead or living humans.
14
According to Pascal Vernus,13 the gods
engendered these spells and decided which ones,
and when, would be presented to us. Presented, as
in presentation, and given also as a present. The pun
serves the purpose here. The texts may vary, and this
is legitimate, as there was no master copy14 for each
spell. Human interpretation15 is the key factor here,
and this is why today’s scholars are trying to decipher
what has already been ‘canonized’ and why. We can
use another pun here, as ‘can’ serves our purpose as a
container holding its content, which varied much;16
and the can is also the canon, the content to which
the spells are concerned. As in any container, to what
is lost, more cannot be further added, but what is
missing can always be completed.
Scholars are studying later spells and more recent
found versions of the already known spells, trying
to find the adequate interpretation of the spells
depicted on papyri,17 sarcophagi, and textiles - such
as those spells inserted not only in mummy bandages’
folds18 tying up the body; but also in shrouds, leather
fragments,19 and Ostraca, Ushabtis,20 and even in
tomb and temple21 walls’ depictions.
Some of these spells written in papyrus are attached
to amulets,22 so as to enhance their protection.23
Amulets used in life
Amulets, essential to life, health and after death,
also reveal medical-magical conceptions connected
to fecundity; establishing the parallel between
medicine and magic, funerary myths, practices
and concepts of life after death.24 As amulets were
placed next to the body,25 those were intended,
without any doubt, to shield the deceased from
any disturbance while he or she was involved in
the heavy duties of crossing worlds. The position
they occupied next to the body had probably some
special importance, as amulets were placed mainly
in the upper part of the body - under the arms,
Abgadiyat 2012

between the thighs or under the head; but this is
not the point of this work.26
Spells engraved27 in amulets reinforce this notion
of shield, therefore enhancing the protection and the
power to overcome all, as a battle was fought between
the deceased and the creatures standing as obstacles in
his or her crossing.
There are examples of this, such as Papyrus Bonn
L 1647.28 These small rolled papyri were probably used
in life too.29 Other elements were present in magic and
therefore depicted in these objects were the ( Dd)
pillar representing Osiris, green for revival, and a
knot symbolizing Isis’ protection; all of these referred
in spells 155 to 160 of the BD.30
These can be considered spells originally intended
to empower objects,31 which will then be worn by
humans32 to ensure their earthly protection.
In passing, we should mention the spells that
incorporate magic especially for inanimate objects to
turn into protective fetishes: 14, 24, 50, 33, 36, 37,
40, 50, 63a, 63b, 90, 94, 151, 152, 153a, 153b 166.
Spell 14 is intended to prevent anger or
dissatisfaction from a god – ( ) nTr33- (maybe
Osiris?),34 or the god’s heart; this spell aims to work
as a lucky charm or amulet, as it works in a way that
averts anger that may clash into the person’s life.35
Spell 17,36 ‘’Yesterday is ( ) Asir, ‘Tomorrow’
is ( ) Ra.’, is a divine doctrine,37 consisting
of statements made by the priests of Heliopolis38
regarding the sun god,39 later becoming a funerary
spell,40 identifying the deceased with the sun god
Ra;41 which was not a ‘rival’ of Osiris, but another
face of the same god; a spell produced in many variant
examples with various vignettes and symbolizing a
prayer to Osiris, the ‘Foremost of the Westerners’;
referring to Osiris’s burial day, aiming to cast away
evil on the day of the rebirth,42 when the deceased
comes back to life,43 such as Osiris did.44
Issue No.7
A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife
Spell 24 brings words of power ( ) HkAw
or magic in plural, to the deceased or the living
45
person; the deceased appeals to a scarab – ( )
xpri, transforming him/ herself, and thus becoming
46
a bearer of magical force.47 Protection of the physical
powers48 denotes a probability of magic being used
also as medicinal property, and again, a spell that
might have been used in life.
Spell 33, for driving off any snake,49 is a pure
defensive magical spell.
Spell 36, repelling a cockroach,50 maybe a
necrophagus beetle working on the corpse, and
feeding itself from him;51 also defensive magic, the
cockroach being ‘the lips of crookedness’.52
Spell 37, repelling two ( ) mrti-
snakes by defensive magic; it states that it works by
53
magic of the commander, literally.54
Spell 40, repelling who has swallowed (a snake?);55
an underworld creature is therefore repelled by
magic.56
Spell 50, (denial expression ( ) r n tm;57
an expressed prohibition) for not entering into the
god’s (Shesmu) room of execution located in the
necropolis;58 knots are tied by Seth and Nut, and the
person is now a ‘heaven-born’.59 Knots60 are known
as one of the most powerful binding elements when
performing magic.
Spell 63A, not to be burnt by fire;61 seeking
protection from fire through watery chaos,62 another
powerful binding element in magic (water). What is
the role of holy water in catholic beliefs but a notion
that, through water, as in the baptismal moment,
every person becomes ‘protected’ from evil?
Spell 63B, for not being scalded with water, the
water-inferno, a transition63 or rite de passage;64 where
the efflux of Osiris is mentioned.65
Spell 90, preserves the deceased66 from
mutilation67 removing incoherent speech from
15
Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
the mouth, restoring his/her power of speech to
pronounce magic spells to defend him/herself; magic
is mentioned as to exist ‘in the belly’ by the action of
spells, and the deceased asks the god to remove those
spells from his belly, so he/she can then be able to
speak properly.68
Spell 94, requesting a water bowl and a palette;
a scribe equipped with ‘Thoth’s kit’ and an Osiris’
corrector; the spell is directed to an elderly man, a
secretary of Thoth, asking for the ‘putrid effluent
of Osiris’ (his lymph?) or more controversially, his
brain69 in order that the querent will be converted into
a scribe.70 But not any scribe; the scribe of Osiris.71
Spell 151, for the funerary mask,72 is purely
magic; all the protection a mummified body can
get.73 It requires protection for the components of the
head, in special, the two eyes, and as a curiosity of the
paradox of the number two, some authors divide this
spell in two.74
And other spells are specific about professional
activities, which might infer the use of those spells in
life, such as:
Spell 152, for building a house on earth
(a funerary chamber?),75 with a foundation on the
Heliopolis of the hereafter;76 or how to become
a carpenter; a building commanded by Osiris, where
some versions refer to the sycamore tree.77 Was this
tree used in construction? According to Nicholson
and Shaw, 2003, the tree’s wood was used in roof
timbers, coffins,78 wagons and statues.79 A list of
applications for sycomore wood, fruits, and leaves is
possible to draw, and I have done so in my present
research, but it does not have relevance to the issue
here; the important notion being that, sycomore
wood was considered to have magical properties, or at
least, divine attributes associated with Osiris.80
Spell 153A, escaping a net from fishermen in
barks, ‘catchers in the water’, the one who traps souls.81
16
Spell 153B, to escape the catcher of fish, the
fisherman. Here a group of demons under Osiris’s
control command the action,82 with references to
youths and elders, swallowing and execrating83- which
portrays that a full cycle84 has been completed by the
deceased, and now he wants to be recognized as an
Osiris N (by magic, of course).
The waters here depicted are those of the
netherworld but they resemble the Nile waters, with
the same activities of fishing and animal attack.
In later texts the two spells 153 A and B couple
and form one unit, differentiating the ‘fishing’ nets.85
Spell 166 is specific in its empowering of a
headrest,86 usually intended for the deceased but also
an appropriate spell to be used as a ‘dream catcher’
because an alarm clock is provided with it, in the
form of doves.
Some spells may be even considered merely
magical spells, independently from having also a
funerary aspect.
The probable use of prophylactic medicine in
spells
There are some entries of a quasi medical nature.
These range from spells 33, 37 and 40 to repel
poisonous and dangerous animals which are an
obvious danger to health, to seeking a cure when a
medical mishap (for example a stroke) has occurred
as with Spell 25 to restore memory, and spell 90.
Some renditions of spells were to thwart conditions
of not recognising faces, called ‘prosopagnosia’,
often associated with a right-sided head injury; and
the great dread of not walking upside-down, arising
from epilepsy or a perceptual neurological disorder.87
Spell 90 is subtitled to remove ‘foolish speech from
the mouth’ which could be attributed to dysphasia
caused by a central brain lesion from a stroke or
parasitic invasion. The ancient Egyptians believed the
belly may also harbour parasites, or there is a remote
Abgadiyat 2012

possibility that an attack of ‘abdominal migraine’ is
being described.
Much can be made of Spell 36 to repel a
cockroach regarded as an insect enemy which can
attack the corpse. It is difficult to figure out if the
ancient Egyptians considered the cockroach a hygiene
issue or a despoiler of food... In many societies and in
desperate times of famine and starvation, insect pests
such as locusts and cockroaches will be eaten.
In our present research we are compiling a list of
‘green’ entities, most predominantly and literally from
the vegetal kingdom, which are associated directly
with Osiris and are also the representative majority of
ingredients in medical and magical prescriptions from
ancient Egypt. This gives us the notion that some
ingredients used in magic and medicine, being it a sole
performance, were closely associated with the god of
rebirth, and the main character in the spells portrayed
in the so-called Book of the Dead. Ingredients that
were used also in the same amulets were frequently
buried with their owner;88 the same ones they might
have used in life as their daily protective amulets.
In a papyrus-amulet the text or spell is written
in a way that resembles a divine oracle. By listing
body parts from the patient, it secures immunity to
the querent.89 The person was identified in it as being
the main character in the myth, transferring his/
her problem from humans’ to gods’ sphere, so that
cosmic forces as heka could be called upon to solve
the matter.
Egyptians had the custom in life of burying these
magical objects,90 this way perpetuating the power of
the spell, they thought.
Materially speaking, the papyri-amulets were
written in narrow bands of papyrus measuring 6 cm91
up to a meter, and were used as portable amulets;
Turin has the largest specimen, with 104 x 83 cm
and 120 lines.92 They therefore contained a ‘decree-
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A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife
blessing’ of some gods, protecting the individual from
diseases, evil eye, misfortunes of all types,93 and those
were explicitly written in the roll. Rolled and kept in
a box, they were used around the neck or the arm.94
Spells; as in magic
Spells can be presented as different parts of
chapters; and, according to some scholars, there are
originally non-funerary spells, since the Coffin Texts’95
examples until the Book of the Dead spells. These
might have been composed to serve other purposes,
but they were later included in this broadcast canon
of ‘funerary spells’. Some of these might be Osiris’
liturgies.96 There are still some unpublished fragments
of Osirian rituals that might give some insight into
these probable non-funerary spells in their origin.
This is maybe the case of spell 172, the formulae
for glorifications in the underworld, or laments for
Osiris, or not.
This spell talks about cleanliness and purification.97
It reminds me of what my grandmother said when we
used to talk dirty in childhood; as it was custom in our
oral tradition she said: ‘I will wash your mouth with
salt and soap.’ Natron and incense were the cleaners
of ancient Egypt, so I believe the basic concept of the
idea to be the same.
Body parts are compared to gemstones and divine
entities; even nature is used as perfection, so entitled
to serve as divine comparison; but also a plant is
referred to, one that bears life-in-it.98
Spells which might have been originally
conceived to give instructions to the deceased on
how to overcome obstacles in the afterlife, have to
be funerary to achieve completeness in their original
concept.
But others, such as those concerning knowledge
only accessible to priests, may not have been intended
purely to accompany a deceased person in his or her
journey.
17
Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
What are these spells?
A bit of history; these funerary spells probably
originate in the Old Kingdom, as the earliest were
found at the Pyramid of King Unas, from 2345-2400
BCE,99 in Saqqara. This is why the earlier accounts
of spells are firstly known and now referred to as the
Pyramid Texts100 (PT). These were compositions
found in the walls of Old Kingdom (5th and 6th
Dynasties) pyramids, such as the ones from Unas,
Teti, and Pepi I, and featured no illustrations.
These spells contained instructions that were
carved by fine artisans to help the king ascend to the
afterlife, passing through all the perils of the trip. By
the end of the Old Kingdom, other high officials in
ancient Egypt started to use them in their tombs too.
In the Middle Kingdom (11th and 12th dynasties),
these developed into a new version of instructions,
some showing coloured vignettes: the Coffin Texts
(CT), when our role model-to-follow for any dying
person appears: Osiris (N).101 Although they continued
to be depicted on tomb walls and papyri, these are
extremely well known, as coffins or sarcophagi show
them extensively, and profusely decorated.
By the New Kingdom, the spells extended
their magical influence to mummy bandages, thus
invigorating the deceased with powerful instructions
which were kept close by,102 so not to miss every
step of the necessary way. The spells started to be
accompanied by exquisite vignettes;103 drawings of
the scenes describing the text and showing all the
intervenients; judges, gods, monsters, demons, the
deceased himself, other humans, and other entities.
Some vignettes constitute solely what they show, not
being a mere illustration of a text.104
In the Third Intermediate Period (21th to 25th
dynasties), little is known about the use of the spells,
but those started to be written also in Hieratic105, and
after the anonymous Saite recension (name given to
18
the 26th Dynasty’s ‘revision and numbering of the
spells)106, the spells started to be abbreviated and
this tendency continued throughout the Late and
Ptolemaic Periods.107
In the Greco-Roman Period108 some spells were
produced using the Demotic script, used mainly
in non-funerary documents. This might reveal an
incursion from domestic life, from the living109 into
the realm of the dead.
Now Osiris takes the leading role as the chosen
deity to be praised110, as a symbol of fertility over
death, the personification of the triumph of ( )
MAat over chaos, justified.
111
Another singular characteristic of these spells is
that the owner is in their majority a man112. Should
we interpret this as a connection to Osiris, the male
counterpart for the creation? Maybe we do.
The main character
Among a myriad of creatures, Osiris is the
omnipresent god in these spells. Whenever present
and referred to, he is there, without reasonable doubt.
When not directly mentioned, he is also there, as it
is no surprise to us that the god who every deceased
worked out to become into has to be present. He
was the representation of the impossible: life after
death. People can come back. The soul can recognize
the body and live there again. You may have the
opportunity to become an Osiris, or to BE Osiris!
The deceased is instructed to ‘follow’ Osiris113
and to be as vigorous114 – ( ) wsr - as he was an
example of life and resurrection.
Rituals are in order. Many paths have to be
crossed to achieve this important status as boundaries
existed115 between the two worlds. Body parts and soul
had all to be revived. The parts were not bigger than
the whole body, but you have to be complete116 to
reach the next level: the afterlife. Osiris was the ideal
chap to personify victory against the dark forces, as
Abgadiyat 2012

he was re-assembled by his sister-wife Isis, after being
murdered and cut into 14 pieces by his evil brother
Seth. He who can beat their own family into being
brought back to life, must be a role model for anyone.
A later ‘entry’, Spell 182117 may reveal the
awakening of Osiris, as it repels his enemy; is it then
that the process gets complete? If so, what are the
aims of the following spells 183-190? The enemies are
already repelled by this spell, but Osiris is said to come
in different forms. If the newborn Osiris is awake,
why does the deceased need further instructions?
Thoth is there to help.118
These are questions to be addressed in forthcoming
research projects. Maybe the numbering of the spells
is made in an order not concurrent with the ancient
Egyptian process.
An ode to the resilience of the new Osiris N,
warding off enemies, this spell flanks the deceased
with Thoth (great of magic), 119 giving him all the
necessary tools for a rewarding rebirth.120
Spell 183 is an Osiris hymn,121 presenting the
deceased as a justified one, and also referring to his/
her body parts; both his parents are mentioned (Geb
and Nut), and the deceased wants to be just as he was
on earth. This is maybe another example decalqué of a
status when alive. Thoth is referred to as ‘the protector
of losses’, whether a physical one,122 or one of material
property; these losses may have occurred in life.
This is surely another example to be considered
non-funerary in its origin.
Spell 183 reminds us of the beginning of prayer
in Islam.123 It is, with any doubt, a hymn to Osiris
rejoicing his royalty.
Mummification, justification and transformation
The body of the deceased had to be completed.124
In the case where body parts were missing, new ones
have to be added - prosthetics, linen bundles, fake
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A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife
eyes, and fake genitalia - so it could be re-assembled,
just like his role model, Osiris. But the soul of the
deceased had to be justified in the tribunal of the
afterlife, as countermeasures were imposed with a
monster nearby, just in case he or she did not do well
in the previous life.
Here is where medical and magical approaches125
and mummification procedures come into play. This is
why many of the spells found in coffins, mummies and
tombs may not have been intended solely for the dead.
But some of these spells seem to protect also
the family of the deceased; they seem to be a type
of continuation of communication between living
and dead relatives. Some may have been written to
help dying people in their last minutes of life, or
sick people in order to overcome disease. Then they
should be called a letter to a dying relative, a prayer
for cure.
Also, visual identification was necessary. The
deceased had to look like Osiris; he or she was
painted, carved, tinted, and ‘accessorized’ into a copy
of Osiris himself. Without any previous sighting of
the god, priests and their assistants did their best
when preparing a body for the passage. The spells also
endowed the deceased on how to transform him or
herself into an animal, associated with important gods
of the pantheon, or magical entities. A falcon such as
Horus, an ibis, a phoenix, a dog, or a serpent, were
the main personas a deceased may be transformed
into. The deceased is not the deity himself, he serves
those instead.
Transformation is another state a deceased may
achieve in the afterlife. As Mark Smith has observed,
the deceased is allowed to transform him/herself into
a non-human form (spells 76-88).126
Also, Spell 73 entitles anyone to be transformed
into any shape one may wish to take: The Book of
Transformations. When we consider this sub-book
19
Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
to be inserted in a group of funerary spells, we must
understand that magic, omnipresent here, will act as
science, changing the anatomy of the newborn in the
afterlife. According to the BD, the list of animals into
which a deceased can be transformed starts with any
form one wishes to become (the omnipresent god?)
and ends with a crawling creature; creatures ranging
from the Upper world to the Netherworld.
The same spell 73127 is a spell dedicated to the
‘penetration in the underworld’; The Opener of Roads.
In some examples the expression for justified
128
( ) (mAa-xrw) appears only after the
transformation episode. So, these spells show that
transformation can only result in justification, the
desired outcome for every new ‘Osiris’. A cycle of
different stages is therefore needed so that the deceased
may encounter his afterlife stage. But if some of the
texts are not funerary, then these steps in the cycle
might begin in life. Are living people then able to be
identified as Osiris? No. As they have to pass through
the same ‘calvary’ he did, in order to achieve the
desired state of justified/transformed/reborn.
Conclusion
As obvious, from the examples mentioned and
the reflexion upon them, it is not possible, for now,
and maybe never, to continue to consider the BD
spells as a book129 or as one specific corpus of spells,
engendered to act ONLY as funerary instructions.
Their contents, spread over different material bases,
and different in genre, cannot constitute a group as
we see it. They might have to be seen, in the near
future, when all scholars agree, and all researchers
follow, as a manual of instructions, grouped for
different purposes, some of them used both in life and
buried with the deceased for the afterlife.
In ancient Egypt magic was called heka ( ) HkA
and the power of heka words accompanied people
in their daily lives130 and followed them after death.
20
The object of this protection might differ, but the
underlying intention persists. If we pay close attention
to the hieroglyphic characters composing the word
heka, ( ) HkA we will find that it consists of two
hieroglyphs, one is a pair of arms reaching out for
the sky and another is a rope with knots. It can be
interpreted as ‘a quest for help from above’, as it was
addressed from humans to gods, in vertical ascendant
direction. This is what magic is.
Another idea: an amulet was shown in ancient
Egyptian writing as ( ) sA,131 and protection as ( )
sAw which may mean a group of objects that are ‘tied
‘together; a rope that ties them down; the bag (tied)
with the contents of an amulet, and the words and
gestures necessary to activate the spell.132
The nehet, the prayer ( ) nHt also
portrays knots, which had a special importance
in tying the prayer, and they are still used today
in magical practices of African influence, in afro-
American (south USA and Caribbean) and Arabic
(North Africa).133
Linen bandages in mummies134 were also binding
elements, although knots are not frequently seen in
those. We can imagine, as a possibility, that the whole
mummy was an amulet in itself, bound with linen
and those same linen profusely impregnated with
magic (spells).
As more archaeological findings bring new
specimens for study, the manual of instructions
will never be complete and new ‘instructions’135 will
continue to be included. I believe it is just the matter
of changing our perspective and bringing it closer to
ancient Egyptians’, maybe then we will be able to
fully interpret their intentions and the purpose of
these spells.
The body was considered as a whole, and this
had to be preserved after death. Thus, we have the
mummification procedures to preserve the intact
Abgadiyat 2012

body, adding parts and preservatives which included
spells. And we have also the identification of the
deceased with Osiris, the perfect and only one, an
identification that started in life, as some of these
Osirian hymns and prayers converted to spells may
have been put into practice by believers while they
were still alive.
The role of medicine here is given through
magical practices which involved natural ingredients
used in the body, believed to have certain healing
properties. Once again, medicine and magic are
shown as a bundled concept,136 never too far apart
from each other, in life, and in afterlife.
A suggested title for the spells united in the Book
of the Dead is then of the order, and that might be: A
Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife.
Notes
* Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University.
1. J.H. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead (London, 2010), 16 quoting
Assmann.
2. The agricultural tasks performed in the other world
happened in an identical environment to the one
existing in life. R.O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian
Book of the Dead (London, 2008), 12.
3. The book of the dead started to be a simple name given
by tomb robbers, knowing nothing about the content
of every text found within a dead body, in Arabic: kitab
al-mayyit (book of the dead man). British Museum, The
Book of the Dead with Twenty-Five Illustrations printed by
order of the Trustees, Department of Egyptian and Assyrian
Antiquities (London, 1922) 2.
4. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 7;
spells after n.162, showing vignettes and dating from
the Late Period.
5. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 7;
based on Barguet 1967, de Buck 1949.
6. M. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, VML
Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH (Rahden, Westfalia, 2012), 32.
7. P. Bonn L1647: Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, TM 96993,
totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm96993. As given in
German: Totenbuch by Lepsius in 1842.
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A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife
8. As given in German: Totenbuch by Lepsius in 1842.
9. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 13.
10. T.G. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Ideas of the ancient Egyptians concerning the hereafter as
expressed in their own terms, Studies in Ancient Oriental
Civilization 37 (Chicago, 1974), 1; British Museum,
The Book of the Dead, 4; J.C. Sales, As Divindades
Egípcias - uma chave para a compreensão do Egipto antigo,
Editorial Estampa (Lisboa, 1999), 22.
11. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 1.
12. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 1.
13. A personal communication given at Bonn, Third
Colloquium, March 2012.
14. Here I have to commit ‘heresy’ and disagree with:
Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 11.
15. This can be illustrated by the fact that tomb depictions
in Akhmim, Middle Egypt, are written on the ‘wrong
side’ just because the geography of the place obliges
the direction of the spells to be drawn on the opposite
part of the tomb, comparing to other places in Egypt
(research conducted by Dr. Tarek Tawfik).
16. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 13.
17. Papyri should be pristine for the text to be effective.
18. Our present knowledge of disease and health patterns
has been growing with the scientific study of Egyptian
mummified bodies, (...) as well as the inscriptions in the
sarcophagi, linen bandages and amulets that cover the
mummies. P. Veiga, Health and Medicine in ancient Egypt,
magic and science (Oxford, 2009), 21; ‘(...) within the
wrappings of the mummy’; Taylor (ed.), Journey through
the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 68.
19. One physical specimen is BM 10281. Müller-Roth,
Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des Totenbuchs:
Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 32.
20. Workers for the deceased in the next world following
Chapter or spell n.6 depicted on the majority of them.
Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 2.
21. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 60.
22. ‘The body was then completely wrapped, sometimes with
amulets, and amulet-papyri, magical spells written in
individual rolls of papyrus; some were used also in life by
its owner, and carried to the final journey as well’. Veiga,
Health and Medicine in ancient Egypt, magic and science,
21
Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
23; ‘some spells occur not only within the Book of the Dead
but were carved or written individually on certain types of
amulets’. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by
Day, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 2.
23. Amulet plaque from Late Period or Ptolemaic period
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, MMA
24.2.19; the plaque was stuck into the papyrus, and
the text says it should be placed on the chest of the
deceased without touching the body. The folded parts
may reveal some kind of ritual. This piece was presented
at the Bonn Colloquium by Dr. Isabel Stünkel, assistant
curator of this museum.
24. Veiga, Health and Medicine in ancient Egypt, magic and
science, 11.
25. Papyri Paris Louvre N 3082 and London BM EA 10098
show how to place the amulets in the mummy. Müller-
Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des Totenbuchs:
Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 75 (picture)
and 82; Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife,
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 33.
26. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 61.
27. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 41.
28. Munro, Ein Ritualbuch für Goldamulette und Totenbuch
des Month-em-hat, Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch,
vol. 7 (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003); Müller-
Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des Totenbuchs:
Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 84; H.W.
Fischer-Elfert, ‘Zum Anfang des Amulettpapyrus Bonn
L 1647’, Göttinger Miszellen 225 (Göttingen, 2010), 97.
29. Papyrus Heidelberg G1359, as it is folded, suggests it
could have been used as such; also Papyrus Michigan
3023a is rolled and bended to serve as an amulet.
Amulets are, both in literature and archaeology an
element of protective function as they were also used in
life with great significance. M.W. Meyer and R. Smith,
Ancient Christian Magic, Coptic Texts of Ritual Power
(New Jersey, 1994), 30, 250.
30. Spell 155 is for the pillar made of gold, strung on
sycamore, and placed on the throat of the deceased; an
association with the backbone, or the vertebrae of Osiris.
In Lucarelli’s Papyrus of Gatseshen, the Dd pillar is
mentioned in both spell 155 and 156. R. Lucarelli, The
Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, ancient Egyptian funerary
religion in the 10th century BC (Leiden, 2006), 138. Spell
156 is for the tie-amulet, or Isis knot, made of red jasper,
also placed on the throat, bringing the magical power
of Isis. Spell 157 is about another amulet, the vulture of
gold (Mut?) also to be placed on the throat. Spell 158
is about the broad collar of gold and spell 159 and 160
are about a papyrus-amulet of feldspar also to be placed
22
on the throat. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going
Forth by Day, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization
37, 155-56; M.H.Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos
do Antigo Egipto, Assirio e Alvim (Lisboa, 1991), 232-
234; mentioned in Spell 156 in: Lucarelli, The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen, 56.
31. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 81.
32. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 82.
33. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 49, 84.
34. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 37; Lucarelli,
The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 147 note 1033.
35. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 12.
36. The oldest form of this spell is attested to the Middle
Kingdom. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 65.
37. With many variants. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of
Gatseshen, 237.
38. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 37.
39. Prayers, litanies and hymns to the sun god were
introduced by high priests of Amun after the 19th
dynasty. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 8.
40. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 44-50.
41. Osiris and Ra were counterparts; simultaneously
opposite and complementary, Taylor (ed.), Journey
through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead,
20; Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 41, 43-53; the composition exists in
the Middle Kingdom, numbered by de Buck as Coffin
Text 335. In both Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead
it is one of the most frequently found formulae; UCL,
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/religious/
bd17.html
42. “...renewed birth and resurrection which was typified
by Osiris”. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 10.
43. The word raising is employed literally as the body must
be lifted up from the necropolis. Lucarelli, The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen, 44.
44. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies
in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 26-32; Taylor (ed.),
Journey through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of
the Dead, 17.
45. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 44.
46. The kheperu were the different aspects or existence
modes of the individual. Taylor (ed.), Journey through
the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 17.
Abgadiyat 2012

47. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies
in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 37; Trindade-Lopes,
O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto, Assirio e Alvim, 61.
48. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 62.
49. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual, 33.
50. Later versions mention a pig. Lucarelli, The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen, 53; representation of a deceased
spearing a pig in Papyrus Nakht, BM 10471: 112.
51. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 69.
52. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 45.
53. For the deceased to remain underneath by the action of
snakes, it would mean to die again. Lucarelli, The Book
of the Dead of Gatseshen, 114.
54. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies
in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 45; Trindade-Lopes,
O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto, Assirio e Alvim, 70.
55. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 73.
56. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 46-7.
57. Things unwanted by the deceased. Lucarelli, The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen, 127.
58. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 55.
59. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 65.
60. The ‘amuletic’ power of the knot. Lucarelli, The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen, 132.
61. Water was cool for the truths of voice and started to
boil when the wicked came. British Museum, The Book
of the Dead, 39.
62. The primeval waters which originated the universe.
Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 16, and that may reside in
the netherworld.
63. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 16.
64. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 83.
65. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 56.
66. Is equipped with magic against his/her enemies.
Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 153.
67. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 40.
68. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Issue No.7
A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 75.
69. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 124; R. Park, The Brain in Ancient Egypt
(Birmingham, 1994), 22.
70. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 77.
71. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 40.
72. Embalming procedures in this variant of spell 151.
Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 64; example
of spell 151 found on a magical brick: 109.
73. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual,
66.
74. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 222-225; British Museum, The Book of
the Dead, 41.
75. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 225.
76. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 170.
77. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 151.
78. Fig wood was used in coffins of the Ptolemaic Period,
as proven by tests done on examples housed in the San
Diego Museum of Man, SCOTT (May 2010), 390-396.
79. P. Nicholson, I. Shaw, Ancient Egyptian Materials and
Technology (Cambridge, 2003), 340.
80. From the Greek syké, fig, and from the ancient Egyptian
neh, protection. A. Cattabiani, reprinted 2010, Florario,
Mondadori Printing (Italie, 1996), 110, 117.
81. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 41.
82. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 171.
83. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 153.
84. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 16.
85. Lucarelli, The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen, 172.
86. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 162;
Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto,
Assirio e Alvim, 27.
87. Park, The Brain in Ancient Egypt, 20.
88. Existing examples can be seen at the Turin, London,
Paris, Berlin, Cairo, New York, Philadelphia and
Chicago Museums.
89. L. Kakosy, A. Roccati, La Magia in Egitto al Tempi dei
23
Essam Elsaeed - Paula Veiga
Faraoni, Milan, Rassegna Internazionale Cinematografia,
Archeologica (Arte e Natura Libri, 1987), 118.
90. R.K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical
Practice (Chicago, 1993), 172-179.
91. Examples at the British Museum EA 10321, EA 10083
in: G. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (Austin, 1994),
36-37.
92. Kakosy, Roccati, La Magia in Egitto al Tempi dei Faraoni,
118-119.
93. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt, 142-143.
94. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt, 117.
95. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual,
33; Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 29.
96. Dr. Alexandra von Lieven is working on these
possibilities under the auspices of Projekt Heisenberg’s
Die nichtfuneräre Nutzanwendung ausgewählter
Sprüche der sogenannten Sargtexte: http://www.
geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/aegyptologie/mitarbeiter/
privatdozenten/von_lieven/index.html
97. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 177-81.
98. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 171.
99. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 11.
100. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 2; British
Museum, The Book of the Dead, 6; Taylor (ed.), Journey
through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead,
34, 54.
101. (N) being the actual person, his/her name or title. Allen,
The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies in
Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 3.
102. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual,
81.
103. These are drawings accompanying spells or replacing
them, popular from the New Kingdom onwards.
104. Müller-Roth, Höveler-Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des
Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab und Ritual,
34.
105. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 8, 12; Taylor
(ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book
of the Dead, 57.
106. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 58.
24
107. Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, TM 96993, totenbuch.awk.
nrw.de/objekt/tm96993.
108. ‘In the first century BCE the BD as a corpus came to an
end, but its motifs survived into Roman times in mummy
shrouds’, Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife,
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 59.
109. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 34.
110. The original cult location of Osiris being in the Delta,
called Djedu by Egyptians, and Busiris by Greeks, was,
after the 12th dynasty, located in Abydos, and continuing
to spread all over Egyptian territory until the end of the
dynastic period. British Museum, The Book of the Dead,
19, 30.
111. “Osiris was the Wheat-god and also the personification of
Maat...”. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 31. On
Osiris and wheat compare J.F. Quack, ‘Saatprobe und
Kornosiris’, in: M. Fitzenreiter (ed.) Das Heilige und die
Ware. Zum Spannungsfeld von Religion und Ökonomie,
IBAES 7 (London 2007), 325-331.
112. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 61.
113. M. Smith, Osiris and the Deceased’, UCLA Encyclopedia
of Egyptology 1 (1) (2008), 4. See further: M. Smith,
‘Osiris NN or Osiris of NN?’, in: B. Backes, I. Munro
and S. Stöhr (eds.), Totenbuch-Forschungen. Gesammelte
Beiträge des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-Symposiums
2005, SAT 11 (Wiesbaden, 2006), 325-37.
114. J. Yoyotte, ‘Une notice biographique du roi Osiris’,
BIFAO 77 (Cairo, 1977), 146.
115. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 16.
116. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 2.
117. Protection, preservation and safeguard. Trindade-Lopes,
O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto, Assirio e Alvim,
277-79.
118. “The Egyptians invoked the aid of Thoth on behalf of their
dead to place them under the protection of his almighty
spells”. British Museum, The Book of the Dead, 3.
119. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day,
Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 196.
120. Different variants presented in: Allen, The Book of the
Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies in Ancient Oriental
Civilization 37, 196-200.
121. Osiris-Hymnen. Textgeschichtliche, inhaltliche, formale
und funktionsbezogene Untersuchungen von vier
ausgewählten diachron belegten und kontextvariablen
Beispielen nebst allgemeiner Betrachtungen soon to be
Abgadiyat 2012
 A Manual of Instructions for a Better Afterlife

published by Daniela Luft, Heidelberg; http://www. 135. Allen does not agree with the ‘chapter’ denomination
materiale-textkulturen.de/person.php?n=120 either; Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by
Day, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 2.
122. Physical integrity, Müller-Roth. Höveler-Müller, (eds.),
Grenzen des Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri zwischen Grab 136. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
und Ritual, 33. Egyptian Book of the Dead, 29.
123. Kissing the earth and touching forehead. Allen, The
Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies in
Ancient Oriental Civilization 37, 200. Touching the
earth. Trindade-Lopes, O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo
Egipto, Assirio e Alvim, 279.
124. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 17, 20, 28.
125. Magical approaches opened channels of communication
between living creatures and divine ones. Taylor (ed.),
Journey through the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the
Dead, 17.
126. Spell 76 advocates one can assume any form, as long as
God, in the sky allows passage. Allen, The Book of the
Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies in Ancient Oriental
Civilization 37, 66.
127. This spell is a repetition of spell 9 in: Allen, The Book
of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Studies in Ancient
Oriental Civilization 37, 10 and also, Trindade-Lopes,
O Livro dos Mortos do Antigo Egipto, Assirio e Alvim, 104,
as the majority of literature suggests.
128. P. Berlin 3162.
129. ‘The term ‘book’ is perhaps misleading: this was not a
consistent composition with a fixed sequence of canonical
texts’. Taylor (ed.), Journey through the afterlife, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 13.
130. Heka was also used in life, Taylor (ed.), Journey through
the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 28, 29.
131. It can represent a shepherd’s rope or the tied cord of
the papyrus rolled for Nile boatmen. The hieroglyph
appears in two forms; in the Old Kingdom, the low
part was not divided, but it separates from the Middle
Kingdom onwards.
132. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt, 108.
133. Remke Kruk personal communication in Ritual Healing,
the Warburg Institute, London, February 2006. Remke
Kruk is a lecturer at the Leiden University in literature,
philosophy, and Arabic science and religion: http://
www.hum.leiden.edu/lias/organisation/arabic/krukr.
html in: Veiga, Health and Medicine in ancient Egypt,
magic and science, 42.
134. Linen amulets as independent objects and placed
in specific parts of the body. Müller-Roth, Höveler-
Müller, (eds.), Grenzen des Totenbuchs: Ägyptische Papyri
zwischen Grab und Ritual, 82, 84.

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